Russian president Vladimir Putin and his long-time ally Victor Ivanov, who is currently head of Russia’s narcotics agency, have been implicated in helping run a drug smuggling and money laundering ring in St Petersburg in the 1990s. The allegations were made by ex-KGB officer Yuri Shvets who spoke at the inquiry into the death Alexander Litvinenko yesterday. Shvets testified in front of Ben Emmerson QC, expanding on a report he had compiled with fellow ex-Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, a few months prior to the latter’s death from polonium poisoning. According to Shvets’ sources, which include the late...

Post-mortem of Alexander Litvinenko's radioactive body was 'one of the most dangerous ever undertaken in the western world' as inquiry hears it was the only case of polonium poisoning ever recorded The post-mortem examination of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko was one of the most dangerous ever held because his body was so radioactive, an inquiry was told today. Doctors who carried out the procedure had to wear special suits, protective gloves and hoods to prevent them being contaminated, the hearing was told. The public inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's death also heard how the Russian dissident, 43, spent three weeks in...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “common criminal dressed up as a Head of State” who ordered the murder of Alexander Litvinenko to stop him exposing him, the inquiry heard. The former spy was murdered for trying to reveal Putin’s close links to organised crime and a cabal of crime lords who prop up his corrupt regime, it was claimed. Ben Emmerson QC, representing the Litvinenko family, said the trail behind the “act of unspeakable barbarism” led directly to Putin’s door. He said Russia was a “Mafia state” where the Kremlin and Russian organised crime syndicates were “indistinguishable”. Mr Litvinenko...

It took Alexander Litvinenko 23 painful days to die. It has taken another agonizing 2,987 days for the British government to open a public inquiry into his murder, a process that cannot deliver justice to the victim, his widow Marina or son Anatoly, but may at least provide an official account of events leading up to his death. As he lay dying after ingesting radioactive polonium-210, Litvinenko blamed the Kremlin. Yet the evidence expected to unfold at the High Court in London over the next 10 weeks is likely to reveal not only an intricate web of relationships between spies...

LONDON — It has consumed more than eight years of maneuvering, obstruction and a widow’s dogged legal campaign, fought often on a shoestring. But finally, on Tuesday, a public inquiry is set to begin its quest for an answer to the question that has driven the whole process: Why did Alexander V. Litvinenko have to die? On Nov. 1, 2006, Mr. Litvinenko, a former officer of the Soviet K.G.B. in self-exile in London and a vocal critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, sipped tea from a poisoned pot, took sick and died 22 days later. Only after his death did...

A tape apparently recorded by murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko a year before he was poisoned has revealed he was digging up links between Vladimir Putin and one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists. A Telegraph investigation uncovered the audio recording, in which the dissident claims from beyond the grave that Russia’s president had a “good relationship” with Semion Mogilevich - a Ukrainian crime boss who was on the FBI's most wanted list and whom Mr Litvinenko believed was selling weapons to al-Qaeda. The apparent recording of Mr Litvinenko is published for the first time ahead of a public inquiry...

Almost eight years after Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer turned whistle-blower, was poisoned in London with a radioactive isotope, the British authorities announced on Tuesday that a public inquiry would be held into his death, permitting investigators to explore whether Russian leaders ordered the killing. At a time when President Vladimir V. Putin faces mounting Western opprobrium for his support of pro-Russia separatists accused of shooting down a Malaysia Airlines jetliner over eastern Ukraine, the announcement from Theresa May, the British home secretary, could be seen by Moscow as a further rebuke. “It is more than seven years...

No, Putin isn't re-building the third Reich: Chamberlain isn't a historic villain because he did nothing after Hitler seized neighboring German-speaking territories. He's a historic villain because he did nothing after Hitler blamed Christianity for poisoning Europe with weakness, swore to destroy the Jews, build a master race, set fire to the Reichstag, seized all police powers, built concentration camps and THEN invaded German-speaking lands. No, Putin isn't re-building the Soviet Union: He has implemented a flat, low tax rate, struck the authority of local commissars to impose taxes, decriminalized tax disputes, decentralized agriculture and industry, seen the numbers of...

The British government sought on Tuesday to limit the information it would disclose at a planned inquest into the death of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former officer in the K.G.B. who succumbed to radiation poisoning in London more than six years ago. The coroner hearing the case said that it may now be postponed. “Due to the complexity of the investigation which necessarily precedes the hearings,” the coroner, Sir Robert Owen, said, “it may not be possible to adhere” to the planned May 1 start date for the hearings. The inquest would be the first — and probably the only...

The murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko was carried out with the backing of the Russian state, Whitehall sources have told the BBC. A senior security official told Newsnight there were "very strong indications it was a state action". Mr Litvinenko, who was a fierce critic of former Russian President Vladimir Putin, was poisoned in London in 2006. UK investigators suspect former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi of the murder, but he has always denied any involvement. The BBC has been told that Russia's internal security organisation, the FSB, operated under Mr Putin with far more autonomy than the organisations...

Russian agents came close to carrying out the perfect assassination on British soil when they killed Alexander Litvinenko... Security sources have disclosed that the former Russian spy would have died within hours had the poisoned tea he was given been served hot. Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who had become a critic of the government of Russia's then president, Vladimir Putin... Security sources say that during the meeting Litvinenko took just a few sips of the tea but left the remainder of the cup because it was cold. "If Litvinenko had drunk all the tea he would have been dead...

AN ALLEGED attempt to kill a former Russian spy who defected to Britain was being investigated by police last night. Oleg Gordievsky was admitted to a hospital in Guildford after falling ill in November last year. And yesterday he claimed he had been poisoned with the highly toxic metal thallium in a botched assassination attempt. Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who spied on Russia for British intelligence during the 1980s, claims he was targeted by a Russian assassin who visited him at his safe house in Surrey. The 69-year-old was unconscious for 34 hours after falling ill last year and...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

The sudden death of an exiled Georgian billionaire may have been another "Alexander Litvinenko-style" murder, it is feared. A major crime squad is investigating the death of 52-year-old Badri Patarkatsishvili, whose body was found at his country mansion in Surrey at about 11pm last night. His family said he suffered a heart attack - but Surrey Police have launched an investigation to confirm the exact cause of death after reports of a plot to kill him. Sky News' home affairs correspondent Mark White said: "The police want to leave no stone uncovered. "In the light of Litvinenko's death in 2006...

...Litvinenko "was giving Scaramella lots of information about Russian and criminal infiltrations in Italy, but most of it was very difficult to verify and crosscheck. It was a little bit out on a limb." In the old days, Litvinenko had been familiar with criminal clans in Russia, now he was making risky approaches to the Italian mafia. Scaramella believed if they could get inside this network, they would be able to leverage much more damaging intelligence about Italian politicians. They spread their net wider. The Litvinenko dossier lists a dizzying roll call of names investigated by the pair, among them...

The former KGB officer named as a suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London said Wednesday the British government's case against him had collapsed and called the slain man a "traitor." In an interview with The Associated Press, Andrei Lugovoi, who is running for parliament in the Dec. 2 elections, said he expects his accusers to use the Nov. 23 anniversary of Litvinenko's agonizing death from radiation poisoning to renew calls for his extradition. But the 43-year-old multimillionaire said the Russian constitution prevents him being handed over, so he is not concerned about what British officials and Litvinenko's...

THE Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who died after being poisoned, was an MI6 agent, it has been claimed. His death in November led to relations between London and Moscow plunging to their lowest since the Cold War. If the allegations are true, it will heighten pressure on Whitehall to have the main murder suspect extradited from Russia to stand trial in England. Litvinenko made a deathbed claim that he had been killed on the orders of Russian president Vladimir Putin, with whom he had several run-ins. The dissident's supporters allege the murder was ordered to send a 'deliberate message' to...

Al Qaeda 'Re-Emerging' in Pakistan Sanctuaries The U.S. military said Tuesday it expected Al Qaeda to continue its "re-emergence" in sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas from where it supported attacks in Afghanistan. Sanctuary was provided to Al Qaeda and Taliban rebels after Islamabad signed a peace deal with militants in a desperate attempt to quell the unrest in its federally administered areas in September 2006, a U.S. military official said. The militants called off the deal in July this year after Pakistani security forces raided a radical mosque in Islamabad where rebels had massed. Dozens were killed in those...

If elected, Andrei Lugovoi would be granted immunity from prosecution A Russian businessman wanted in Britain on suspicion of murdering Alexander Litvinenko says he will stand for election to the Russian parliament. Andrei Lugovoi denies any involvement in former Russian agent Mr Litvinenko's death from poisoning in London in November 2006. He has said he will run for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) of the Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. If elected in December, Mr Lugovoi would get immunity from prosecution. "I confirm LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky's announcement that I have agreed to join the party's electoral list," Mr Lugovoi told...

Prime suspect in Litvinenko case to run for Russian parliament Posted on : 2007-09-16 | Author : DPA News Category : Europe Moscow - Andrei Lugovi, the prime suspect in the murder case of Kremlin opponent Alexander Litvinenko, is to run for Russian parliament (Duma) as number 2 on the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) list, Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced Sunday. According to the Interfax news agency, Lugovoi agreed to run in the election with the LDPR, led by the nationalist Zhirinovsky. Former Russian secret service agent Lugovoi is accused by Britain's Scotland Yard of administering a lethal dose...

MOSCOW (AP) — The sole suspect in the radiation poisoning death of a former KGB agent announced plans to run for parliament Sunday on the ticket of a pro-Kremlin ultranationalist party. Andrei Lugovoi, another former KGB officer who met with Alexander Litvinenko at a London hotel bar on Nov. 1 hours before Litvinenko fell ill, told state-run Russia Today television that he had no desire to go into politics but changed his mind because of British accusations. Now a Moscow businessman who runs a private security agency, Lugovoi said Sunday that he would be No. 2 on the list of...

“Al-Qaeda Stronger than Ever.” “U.S. Concern at Al-Qaeda Strength.” These and similar titles accompanied news stories that began breaking during the second week of July, announcing leaks of a disturbing new classified intelligence report. Prepared for President Bush by the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), the five-page report entitled Al-Qaeda Better Prepared to Strike the West paints a picture of a revived, more dangerous terror network led by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Associated Press reported on July 11 that an unnamed counterterrorism official familiar with the still-unreleased report paraphrased the briefing paper as finding that al-Qaeda is...

Traces of the lethal radioactive poison which killed Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko have been found at four previously undisclosed sites - including a Mayfair lap dancing bar. The revelations come nine months after the former spy's murder and shed new light on the scale of the investigation into his death. The polonium-210 poison was found at the Hey Jo nightclub on Jermyn Street, on a shisha pipe in the West End restaurant Dar Marakesh, in a taxi and in Mr Litvinenko's Mercedes. Westminster council has disclosed that a total of 47 venues were checked, among them five buses, eight aircraft,...

Traces of the lethal radioactive poison which killed Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko have been found at four previously undisclosed sites - including a Mayfair lap dancing bar. The revelations come nine months after the former spy's murder and shed new light on the scale of the investigation into his death. The polonium-210 poison was found at the Hey Jo nightclub on Jermyn Street, on a shisha pipe in the West End restaurant Dar Marakesh, in a taxi and in Mr Litvinenko's Mercedes. Dancers from Hey Jo lap dancing club where traces of radiation have been detected Westminster council has disclosed...

A key adviser to President Vladimir Putin accused Foreign Secretary David Miliband of 'anti-Russian racism' over his handling of the Alexander Litvinenko affair. It was claimed Mr Miliband let his personal views cloud his judgment in the recent tit-for-tat diplomat expulsion row over the murder of ex-KGB operative Litvinenko. Last month the Foreign Secretary expelled Russian diplomats from Britain after the Kremlin refused to sanction the extradition of the prime suspect in the murder case. President Putin responded by throwing out several British Embassy officials and banning visas for other UK diplomats. Now Russian political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky, who is...

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia could prosecute businessman and former Soviet KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi in the Litvinenko affair if Britain provides "proof" of his guilt, Russia's foreign minister said Friday. If the British "have proof that has 100 percent convinced them of Lugovoi's guilt, we are ready to receive it and study it," Sergei Lavrov said, cited by Interfax news agency from Beijing. At the same time, he said Russia did not intend to exchange Lugovoi for Russian businessman and Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky, who currently lives in London and is wanted in Russia on various charges of fraud. "For...

THE senior British official was unequivocal. The murder of the former KGB man Alexander Litvinenko was “undeniably state-sponsored terrorism on Moscow’s part. That is the view at the highest levels of the British government”. This official had access to the latest police and intelligence findings, and he was reflecting the views of senior Home Office counter-terrorism officials, Scotland Yard detectives and others with close knowledge of the murder investigation. All confirmed last week that they believe the plot to poison Litvinenko in London last year was ordered by the Russian secret service, the FSB. In Moscow, strong words were also...

Excerpt - RAF fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian strategic bombers heading for British airspace yesterday, as the spirit of the Cold War returned to the North Atlantic once again. The incident, described as rare by the RAF, served as a telling metaphor for the stand-off between London and Moscow over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. While the Kremlin hesitated before responding to Britain’s expulsion of four diplomats, the Russian military engaged in some old-fashioned sabre-rattling. Two Tu95 “Bear” bombers were dispatched from their base on the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic Circle and headed towards British airspace....

Russia vows response to UK expulsions By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer 18 minutes ago Russia on Tuesday vowed a "targeted and appropriate" response to Britain's expulsion of four diplomats in a mounting confrontation over the probe into the radiation poisoning death of a former KGB officer. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko criticized Britain for demanding the extradition of the key suspect in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, emphasizing that Russia's constitituion forbids it, and urged other European nations not to gang up against the Kremlin. The dispute could derail recent American efforts to ease increasing tension between Russia and...

Putin vows revenge as Britain expels diplomats By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent, and Adrian Blomfield in Moscow Last Updated: 3:07am BST 17/07/2007 Russia threatened Britain with "serious consequences" last night after David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, revived memories of the Cold War by announcing that four Russian diplomats were to be expelled from London. President Vladimir Putin: emboldened by Russia’s growing economic strength The decision showed how Anglo-Russian relations have sunk to their lowest ebb since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Mr Miliband said that Britain had no choice but to send a "clear and proportionate signal" to Moscow...

FROM the day Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer, died of polonium poisoning in London last November, officials in Russia treated the investigation of his death as if it were simply a matter of bad public relations. They dismissed accusations of Russian involvement as nonsense fabricated by President Vladimir V. Putin’s enemies. Britain last week punctured Russia’s strategy. A decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to accuse another former K.G.B. officer of the murder and demand his extradition pushed Russia out of the international court of public opinion and into the international court of law. If recent history is...

Ex-KGB agent charged with Litvinenko's murder by Robin Millard Tue May 22, 2007 The Crown Prosecution Service demanded Tuesday the extradition of a former KGB man to face charges over the radiation murder of Alexander Litvinenko, in a move likely to seriously strain ties with Moscow. Russian authorities immediately said they would not hand over Andrei Lugovoi, a wealthy Russian businessman, despite London's demands for "full cooperation" from Moscow over the affair. Prosecutors called for his extradition over the poisoning of Litvinenko last November, which CPS chief Sir Ken Macdonald called an "extraordinarily grave crime." "I have today concluded that...

Britain to charge former KGB agent for Litvinenko murder (Roundup) May 22, 2007, 14:43 GMT London/Moscow - Britain said Tuesday it would press murder charges against a former KGB agent accused of the 'deliberate poisoning' of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko with a radioactive agent in London last November. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was sufficient evidence to bring murder charges against Andrei Lugovoy, a Moscow- based businessman who met Litvinenko at a London hotel on the day he was believed to have been given an fatal dose of polonium-210 in a cup of tea. But the authorities in Moscow...

Excerpt - A Moscow based man is to be charged in connection with the murder of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said it will ask for the extradition of a former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy. At a news conference Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald said: " I have today concluded that the evidence given to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoy with the murder of Mr Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning. "I have instructed CPS lawyers to take immediate steps to seek the early extradition of Andrei Lugovoy...

THE NUMBER TWO PERSON IN AL QAEDA, AYMAN AL ZAWAHIRI, IS AN OLD AGENT OF THE FSB (KGB). AYMAN AL ZAWAHIRI, IN 1998, WAS IN THE TERRITORY OF DAGESTAN, WHERE FOR HALF A YEAR HE RECEIVED SPECIAL TRAINING AT ONE OF THE EDUCATIONAL BASES OF THE FSB. AFTER THIS TRAINING HE WAS TRANSFERRED TO AFGHANISTAN, HE PENETRATED THE MILIEU OF BIN LADEN AND SOON BECAME HIS ASSISTANT IN AL QAEDA. TOP OFFICIALS FROM THE UFSB OF DAGESTAN, WHO HAD DIRECTLY WORKED WITH AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI WERE CALLED TO MOSCOW AND RECEIVED HIGH POSTS...

Scotland Yard detectives are to issue arrest warrants against three former KGB officers suspected of poisoning ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Police have told sources close to Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina that they intend to lay charges of murder and poisoning against the men, who met the victim three weeks before his death in London. The move will damage the already strained relationship between Downing Street and the Kremlin, which is almost certain to block any request for the men's arrest and extradition. Warrants are expected to be issued against Andrei Lugovoy, Dmitri Kovtun and Vyacheslav Sokolenko within the next few...

LONDON (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky said he is planning a revolution in Russia to topple President Vladimir Putin, in comments published on Friday. "We need to use force to change this regime," Berezovsky, who has received asylum in Britain, told the Guardian newspaper. "It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure." Asked if he was fomenting a revolution, he said: "You are absolutely correct." Berezovsky, a vocal critic of Putin, said he was in contact with members of Russia's political elite. He said these people -- who he...

Before his mysterious death, Kommersant journalist Ivan Safronov was on the verge of reporting a story about sensitive arms deals with Syria and Iran despite warnings that he would be prosecuted for disclosing classified information, it was reported Tuesday. Kommersant reported that Safronov planned to file a story on the sale of Iskander surface-to-surface missiles and SU-30 fighters to Syria, and S-300 air defense systems to Iran. The newspaper added that the story was sure to have prompted a Federal Security Service, or FSB, investigation into disclosure of classified information. The United States and Israel have lodged strong protests when...

<p>FBI agents say they are assisting police in suburban Washington who are investigating the shooting of a Russian expert — a man who spoke out on "Dateline NBC" last weekend and strongly suggested that remnants of the KGB were responsible for the bizarre poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko.</p>

Alexander Litvinenko was a traitor who would have deserved execution in Soviet times, his former chief in Russia’s security service said last night. Alexander Gusak accused Litvinenko of helping British secret services unmask Russian spies after he fled to London from Moscow. He claimed that furious agents considered assassinating him in revenge. “I consider him a direct traitor because he betrayed what is most sacred for any operative — his operational sources. His sources came to me and they complained that your [British] secret service officers had found them, and asked what to do,” Mr Gusak said. Mr Gusak was...

Litvinenko Shooting Gallery At a Special Forces Training Center The Western media is circulating reports alleging that the Russian Interior Ministry's Vityaz Special Forces use targets featuring a picture of poisoned former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko for shooting practice. The target is visible in the background of a photograph of Russian Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov visiting the Vityaz Training Center near Moscow. The authors of the reports claim that their source was a promotional video about the Russian Special Forces. The scandal exploded on January 25 with the publication of the picture in the well-known Polish newspaper Dziennik, which...

*Litvinenko 'did not have to flee' *Reporters told of crimminal oligarchs Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy who was murdered in London, was a thug and a thief who had no need to flee to Britain because he was so insignificant, President Putin said yesterday. Litvinenko had not been privy to state secrets and was dismissed from the Federal Security Service (FSB) â€śfor beating people during detentions when he was a security service officer and for stealing explosivesâ€ť. Mr Putin said: â€śHe got a three-year suspended sentence and there was no need for him to flee. He had said all the...

(AP) LONDON -- British police have concluded that a former Russian spy was poisoned by a lethal dose of radioactive Polonium-210 added to his tea at a London hotel, British and American television stations reported Friday. Investigators have identified the teapot believed to have contained the radioactive tea, which eventually killed Alexander Litvinenko in November, Sky News said, citing unnamed Scotland Yard officials. ABC News had a similar report, citing an unidentified official. Police officials and a spokesman at the hotel declined to comment on the reports. The reports also said police have identified another former Russian spy, Andrei Lugovoi,...

British officials say police have cracked the murder-by-poison case of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, including the discovery of a "hot" teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts reading for Polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the killing. A senior official tells ABC News the "hot" teapot remained in use at the hotel for several weeks after Litvinenko's death before being tested in the second week of December. The official said investigators were embarrassed at the oversight. The official says investigators have concluded, based on forensic evidence and intelligence reports, that the murder was a "state-sponsored" assassination orchestrated by Russian...

The British government is preparing to demand the extradition of a Russian businessman to stand trial for the poisoning with polonium-210 of the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. Senior Whitehall officials have told the Guardian that a Scotland Yard file on the murder which is about to be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service alleges that there is sufficient evidence against Andrei Lugovoi for the CPS to decide whether he should face prosecution. Read More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1999204,00.html

The killings of former security services agent Alexander Litvinenko and journalist Anna Politkovskaya were "well thought-out provocations" meant to hurt the Kremlin's public image, a senior presidential aide says. The aide, Igor Shuvalov, also takes issues with those who blame Litvinenko's death on President Vladimir Putin. "It is foolish to link this murder to the head of the country," Shuvalov said Wednesday in Berlin at a high-profile discussion of Russian-German relations, Ekho Moskvy radio reported Thursday. Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering his murder in a statement released after his death. A fierce critic of Putin, the former KGB and Federal...

<p>There may have been multiple attempts to kill Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko before he died, BBC One's Panorama programme has discovered.</p>
<p>The first poison bid may have come two weeks before he met Mario Scaramella in a sushi bar on 1 November.</p>

British Police Identify Suspected Killer of Poisoned Ex-Russian Spy January 21, 2007 LONDON — Police have identified the man they believe poisoned Alexander Litvinenko. The suspected killer was captured on cameras at Heathrow as he flew into Britain to carry out the murder. Friends of the ex-spy say that the man was a hired killer, sent by the Kremlin, who vanished hours after administering a deadly dose of radioactive polonium-210 to Litvinenko. He arrived in London on a forged EU passport and reportedly slipped the poison into a cup of tea he made for Litvinenko in a London hotel room....

• The treatment of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko has provided further proof of the bankruptcy of the prevailing Western interpretation of Putin’s Russia. This paper shows that the theory can exist only with the suspense of the standard faculty of rational thinking. For example, President Putin was widely assumed to be guilty without any evidence being considered necessary. • The causes of this alarming failure should be sought in the gradual ossification of Western liberal democratic ideology into an unbending orthodoxy. In particular, the orthodoxy is failing to accommodate the spontaneous, internal liberation in Russia and China, treating...